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Longmont pastor thinks police should apologize for arrest in New Year's Eve fatal hit and run

Department 'would like to have that conversation'

By Pierrette J. ShieldsLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
02/08/2013 08:36:49 PM MST

Updated:
02/08/2013 08:38:01 PM MST

Kendra Balentine, left, listens as her pastor Corey Seulean, right, speaks during an interview on Jan.11 at the Messiahville Baptist Church in Longmont.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

LONGMONT -- Messiahville Baptist Church pastor Corey Seulean appeared with 18-year-old Kendra Balentine in multiple media interviews as she denied being involved in a hit-and-run New Year's Eve crash that left a Denver boy dead.

Now that Balentine has been cleared of the crime, Seulean said he wonders where the apology from the police is.

"I think she deserves an apology because this has devastated her," he said Friday.

Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said late Friday that police representatives would be glad to sit down with Kendra Balentine, her family and Seulean.

"We would like to have that conversation. We would welcome that conversation," Satur said, noting that the department has not reached out the to Balentine family.

However, Satur said, the content of any conversation with the Balentines is not something he could discuss right now.

Balentine remained unavailable for comment on Friday, a day after prosecutors dismissed charges against her.

Balentine and her pastor had said she could not have been at the scene of the hit-and-run because she was at the church at the time of the crash. Seulean vouched for her and said about 30 other church members could do the same.

Balentine was arrested Jan. 3 on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident, a felony, and charged in Boulder District Court. On Thursday, police confirmed that no evidence placed her or her car at the scene of the wreck.

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Satur, the spokesman for the Longmont Police Department, repeatedly said in the days after Balentine's arrest that investigators were confident that Balentine's car was the one that struck and killed 16-year-old Jason Grimmer, even as Balentine and Seulean publicly aired her alibi. Grimmer was fleeing from a fight between two groups on the 2200 block of Main Street when he was hit. Satur said evidence on Balentine's car matched Grimmer's injuries and biological evidence taken from the car was sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for analysis.

Balentine is related to some of the men involved in the original fight. No one has been arrested in the fight.

Seulean said on Friday he is glad he stood with Balentine because he always believed in her innocence.

"It bothers me that she was in jail. It bothers me that her name was presented in a way that 'we have the right person, we have the right car,'" he said.

He said he did hear that Grimmer's grandfather apologized on a television broadcast for the things Balentine had to contend with. Grimmer's mother said on her Facebook page that the right person has to be found. Neither was reached for comment Friday.

Seulean said he respects police and believes that the investigating officers believed they were on the right track.

"I am not going to let one incident change my opinion of police officers," he said.

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